Windows XP on a Windows 7 computer

I want to install Windows XP on a partition on my Windows 7 computer due to program compatibility problems with Windows 7 and it being 64-bit. VMWare Workstation and Virtual PC both run too slow for me to be satisfied.

I have a Windows XP disc that when I try to boot off of gives me an error and an Ubuntu 10.03 disc that I try to boot off of so that I can create a partition that gives me a "Memory leak error" everytime. Is this because I am using an external disc drive or what? Anyways to fix this?

Any other way to create a partition and install Windows XP on it? I have all my data backed up, so if need be, I can delete my Windows 7 partition if it requires that.

 

Run VirtualBox by Oracle and give it good amount of RAM and you are all set to go; or another option is to use Win7 XP Mode.

I would not recommend installing XP on new hardware.

 

How much RAM/memory are you giving the XP virtual machine? 1.5 GB should be more than enough, but safe for getting the necessary performance. By default, Virtual PC gives 512 MB of memory, and I think VMWare does the same.

 

The thing is, the things I want to run are older games. I gave the virtual machines each 2 GBs of RAM out of my 4 GBs, so I gave them more than enough.

Trust me, if a virtual machine would work good enough, I would've much preferred that route.

 

Use virtualbox, and enable Direct3D.

 

Thought of another question, even though you probably already did it. When you were using VMWare to run the virtual machine, did you install the VMWare Tools in the virtual machine itself? VMWare has a menu option that you can choose to have it auto-magically install it.

Edit: For Virtual-PC, they call their "tools" setup "Virtual Machine Additions".

 

Yes, I did both the additions for Virtual PC and VMWare Tools.

Thanks for the help thus far... if anyone can teach me how to dual boot though that would solve my problems completely.

 

Install XP, put aside some space for Win7 which you install afterwards.

or, if you dont wanna reinstall win7:
Install Windows XP in Dual Boot with Pre-Installed Windows 7

 

Not to tell things like they are, but D3D in VirtualBox pretty much sucks. In any game that relies on cursor movement to direct the motion, it's as hopeless as trying to play an FPS on a tablet with the stylus. Sun's introduced a lot of interesting features to a free virtualization program, but that one isn't fully baked yet.

It would be helpful to know what error the XP disc is giving you. My first guess would be that you don't have SATA drivers for XP, and your HDD is in SATA mode. The simple way to fix this is going into the BIOS and switching your hard drive from SATA (sometimes called AHCI) mode to ATA mode (possibly called PATA mode). Unfortunately, some manufacturers started disabling this option a couple years back as part of their Vistalization efforts. In that case, you still ought to be able to slipstream SATA drivers onto an XP install disc (you'll have to use a fresh disc, but you'll be able to get the needed drivers). I'll let you research this some more as I haven't done it myself, and I don't know what the error actually is. Knowing which laptop this is would be good, too - I see the AMD Neo one in your sig, but there's no confirmation that's the one we're dealing with. Kinda hoping it isn't, as HP was one of the very pro-Vista camp in their consumer lineup, but even if it is, there's probably some way to finnegal a non-Vista/7 OS onto it.

No idea what might be causing the Ubuntu error, though. I know HP's Envy 15 isn't Linux-friendly, so perhaps that goes across HP's lineup. I don't know how much external optical drives may affect the situation, either - it probably doesn't matter, but an internal drive would eliminate the possibility.

 

Thanks for the help so far, rep has been handed out!

Yes, I am using the laptop in my signature.

When I try to boot off one of my XP discs, it works fine loading up all the drivers but then during the installation process it gives me the BSOD and says "Technical issues have occurred and the installation has been terminated" or something along those lines and gives me a long long error identification number at the bottom.

The other XP disc doesn't even begin to install, it just gives me a memory access error or something.